North Korea is angry over recent doubt expressed by the Hyundai Group chairwoman over the conglomerate's tours in the North.

Sources at the inter-Korean ministerial talks in Pyongyang said Wednesday that a North Korean official said permission for tours around the North's Mount Baekdu was given to Hyundai Asan Corporation, not to group chairwoman Hyun Jung-eun.

The official went so far as to suggest that friction between Pyongyang and Hyundai could halt the Mount Geumgang tourism project.

A Unification Ministry official in Seoul, however, downplayed the remarks, saying they were made by a mere tour guide and not a high-ranking official.